Karnataka’s public school system, comprising 50,190 government primary-secondaries with an aggregate enrolment of 5 million students, is mired in a major textbook printing scam. The state’s primary and secondary education minister Tanveer Sait has ordered an inquiry into reports that government-contracted private printers have printed sub-standard textbooks and pocketed “crores of rupees” by lowering the government-mandated paper quality of 60 grams/square metre (GSM) to 45-50 GSM. The result: brittle pages of government-issued textbooks which cannot withstand ordinary wear and tear, raising fears of their inability to last a full academic year.

For the academic year 2016-17, the state-owned Karnataka Textbook Society (KTBS) has awarded printing contracts valued at Rs.112.57 crore to 23 private printers (and the Government Press) for producing an aggregate 45.7 million textbooks. Of them, 33.5 million were for free distribution to 56,996 government and aided schools, and 12.2 million for sale to 19,004 unaided schools affiliated with the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board. However, in a departure from past practice wherein all textbooks were printed on 70 GSM paper, this year the education ministry’s primary and secondary education department decided to lower the paper quality to 60 GSM to save the state exchequer Rs.10 crore. But according to informed sources within the education department, several printers further lowered the paper quality to 45-50 GSM to “make money”. Moreover, there’s reportedly a wide quality difference between the free textbooks distributed by the state government and those sold in the retail market.

However Nagendra Kumar, managing director of the Bangalore-based KTBS, the apex body responsible for commissioning, printing and distributing textbooks to all state board-affiliated schools, rules out any malpractice in the printing process. “None of the sample textbook copies are printed on inferior paper. Tenders were invited for 60 GSM paper through our e-portal and the selection procedure was completely transparent. A thorough quality check of the printed textbooks will be done before payment is made to printers,” says Kumar.

Unfortunately, despite Kumar’s claims of a “transparent and efficient” textbook production and publishing process, it’s an open secret that contracts for printing millions of Kannada language textbooks (in particular) are farmed out to ill-qualified printers at inflated prices in return for kickbacks. Moreover, unprofessional teachers are commissioned to write them after which they are forced on captive teachers and students in government schools.

According to Prof. A.S. Seetharamu, former professor of education at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore and currently education advisor to the Karnataka government, the state government’s textbooks production and publishing system needs a complete overhaul. “The entire process of textbooks publishing from selection of academics to write them, to awarding printing contracts is opaque, and not based on merit, but political considerations. Indeed, the textbook printing and production process needs to be privatised; the government should not be involved in floating tenders and selecting printers. It should restrict itself to setting textbook standards. The production process should be handed over to reputed private publishers,” says Seetharamu.

But given the vested interest of powerful politicians, educrats, printers and publishers in this well-oiled system, and the low priority given to education of 5 million children trapped in the state’s 50,190 dysfunctional public schools, it’s doubtful whether the status quo will be disturbed. Meanwhile, learning outcomes plunge, children’s career and employment prospects are ruined, and it’s business as usual.

Sujata Choudhury (Bangalore)